Garment pressing machine



March 16, 1943. w. A, HGCH v I GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Aug. 31, 19:59

INVENTOR. 'm a/ rfl H064 A rQRNEys March--16, 1943. w. A. H H

GARMENT PRESSING mcnnw Filed Au 31, 1939 a snets-sheet- 2 k E mATTORNEYS MACHINE No.2.

MACHINE 1110.1.

March 16, 1943 w. A. HOCH 2,313,324

v GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1939 s Sheets-sheaf sATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 16,1943

GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE;

Walter A. Hoch, Forest Hills, N. Y., assignor to New York Pressing IronCo. Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Xork Application August31, 1939, Serial No. 292,761

6 Claims.

' My invention relates to a new and improved pressing machine.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a power-actuatedmachine for pressing garments, having an improved two-hand control andimproved means for holding the press closed under pressure, if thetwo-hand control is released after thepress-head has moved apredetermined distance towards the buck.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pressing machine whichis operated by a suitable motor, such as a piston and cylinder, andhaving improved means which are wholly independent of a by-pass valve orvalves for maintaining thepressure, after the head of the press has beensubstantially or wholly? closed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of this type,wholly independent of a toy-pass valve or valves, whereby the machinewill be opened if the operator releases one or both of-the manualcontrols, before the machine has been substantially or wholly closed. I

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of this typehaving improved exhaust means for opening the press, after the pressingoperation has been completed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine having a minimumnumber of parts and which will be simple to construct and to operate.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved control systemwhereby one operator may operate'a single press or operate a pluralityof presses.

' Other objects of my invention will be set forth the press shown inFig. 1, and certain auxiliary parts, taken'alonga line whichis'perpendicular toithe arrow 'whichiis designated by 2 in 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the table of the press, taken along theline 3- 3 of Fig. l. 1

FigMl' is a diagrammatic view of the control system which is us'edinconnection with the press which'is illustrated in Fig. 1.

nected an: to the'link l0.

' in Fig.2,

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the improved control system, as appliedto two presses which are operated in tandem.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the table of the tandem-operated presses,according to the first embodiment.

The invention is shown as applied to a press of conventionalconstruction and it is not limited to any particular type of press. Thepress has a frame I, a buck 2, a head 3 and a table 4. The head. 3 isconnected to a pivoted frame which includes an arm 5. Said arm 5 ispivotally connected at 6, intermediate its ends, to the frame of themachine. The'pivoted frame of the head 3 also includes an arm 1, whichis rigid with said frame. The arm 5 has a boss 8. The arm 7 is pivotallyconnected at 9 to a link III which is pivotally connected at I I to asector l2. The sector or knee lever I2 is pivotally connected at I! to asecond sector or knee lever 18. The second sector 13 is pivotallyconnected at 19 to a link 20, which is pivotally connected at 2| to theframe of the machine. The first sector I2 is pivotally connected at I4to a link 15 whichis pivotally connected at 16 to the base of, the frameI In Fig. 1, the full-line positions of the links it and 20 correspondto the closed position of the press and the broken-line position of thesector 18 corresponds to the open position of the press. r a

The tension spring 22 has one end connected to a hook 23 which isrigidly connected to the frame I. The other end of said tension spring22 is con- 22 merely serves to open the press when the exhaust isopened. The tension spring 22 can be connected to any oi the movingparts of the press. The. .left-handend of the spring22 can be connectedto the base of the frame at it. The sector i8 is also pivotallyconnected to atransverse rod 25 which is located within a clevis 2 6,which is rigidly connected to the piston rod 21. ,Thepiston rod 21 isconnected to a piston 28,, which reciprocates in a cylinder 29. Theclevis 26, is-

guided between stationary guides .30 which are rigidly connected to theframe of the machine. Tension springs 31 and 3m normally keepthe pistonin its retracted position, which is shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, andwhich corresponds to the'op'en position of the press. Each of saidsprings 3| and 31a has one end thereof fixed to a respective lug ofcylinder 29, and its other end connected'toa respectiveend of rod 25, asshown The tension spring Referring to Fig. 4, this shows an inlet pipe32 which may be connected to a suitable source of fluid under pressure.This fiuid is preferably air. Th pipe 32' has an extension 33 which isconnected to a first valve-casing 34. This casvalve 311) abuts its seatand it prevents the compressed air from passing into the pipe 35, andthe valve 31a clears its seat so that air can exhaust freely from thevalve-casing 34, above the seat of valve 31b. The valve-casing 36 isprovided with a valve-stem 38 which has valves 38a and 38b. Saidvalve-casing 36, alsohas a spring 39a.

tion shown in Fig. 4, so as to prevent the air from exhausting out ofvalve-casing 68a. The force of the compression spring 58 is greater thanthe force of the compression spring 63, so that the valve 62 is normallyheld away from its seat, in the position shown in Fig. 4.

When the valve 62 is in said normal position,

' .air can exhaust out of the valve-casing 68a through the outlet 6| b.When the lever 48 is The valve-casings 34 and 36 and their respec- Vtive valves and controls are identical. The valvecasing 36 has-an outletpipe 48. In the normal positions of the valves 38a and 386, the valve38?) prevents the compressed .air from passing through the valve-casing36 to the pipe 48.

In said normal position the valve 38a clears its seat so that air canexhaust freely from the valve-casing 36 through the outlet 36a, abovethe seat of valve 38b. The valve stems 31 and 38 are provided with anysuitable and separate controls. These controls may be manuallycontrolled levers 4| and 42 which are respectively pivotally mounted at4 la, 42a. These levers may be turned by means of push buttons 43, 43a.

. Since the casings 34 and 36 and their respective valves are located inseries, it is necessary to de-' is in the full-line position shown inFig. 4. The

lever 48 is maintained in said normal position by means of a compressionspring 58. The outlet end of the pipe 48 is connected to a valve-casing5|. A valve 52, having a spindle 53, is located in said casing 5|. Thespindle 53 is connected to an actuating piston 54.

A compression spring 55 maintains the piston 54 in the normal positionshown in Fig. 4, in which valve 52 clearsits seat. The valve-casing 54is connected by means of a pipe 56 to the cylinder 29, intermediate theends of said cylinder.

The port 56a of the pipe 56 is spaced from the median lateral planeofthe cylinder 29. The valve-casing 5| is connected to a pipe 51. pipe5'lis connected to pipes 58 and 59, through a coupling 68. .The innerwall of said coupling 68is provided with an annular projection 6| so asto form a constricted opening. This con.- stricted opening may be formedin any other manner and its purpose is to retard the flow of the airthrough the pipe 51. The cross-sectional area of said'co'nstrictedopening is less than the respective cross-sectional areas of the boresof the pipes 51, 58 and59, and said pipes 51, 58 and Said turned to thebroken-line position, the valve' 62 is moved against its seat so as toprevent the air from exhausting through the outlet 6"). 'The pipe 59 isalso connected, through a coupling 64 (also having a constricted boreportion) to a valve-casing 65. The constricted bore portions ofcouplings 68, 64, and 18 are of identical area, and said couplings aregenerally the same in all respects. Said valve-casing 65 has avalve 66,which is normally held in the position shown in Fig. 4, by means of acompressionspring 61, so that valve 66 normally abuts its seat. Hencethe compressed air'cannot flow through the valve-casing 65, until thelever 48 has been moved to its broken-line position- When this is done,the valve 66 is moved away from its seat so that communication isestablished between the pipe 59 and the branch pipe 32a of theinlet'pipe 32.

The pipe 5 is also connected to a branch pipe 68, which is connected toa pipe 69 by means of a coupling 18. The pipe 69 is connected to thevalve-casing H of a second pilot-motor, in which a second pilot piston12 is located. A compression spring '13 holds the second piston 12 inthe normal position shown in Fig. 4. One end of the spindle Had thepiston 12- then abuts the upper 7 wall of the lever 48. The pipe 69is'also con-,

nected to a branch pipe 14, which is connected to the valve-casing 15 ofthe manually controlled exhaust valve 11. Said valve-casing 15 has anexhaust outlet 76. A compression spring 18 holds valve 11 against itsseat in thenormal position shown in Fig. '4, thus normally preventingthe air from exhausting from the valve-casing 15. The valve 11 can bedepressed so as to clear its seat and to permit the air to exhaust outof the valve-casing .15, by means of a manually controlled lever 19,which is pivotally mounted at 88.

piston 46. The first pilot piston 46 is thus automatically depressed soas to turn the lever 48 to its broken-line position, and the spring 63raises the valve 62,so asto. prevent'th'e air from exhausting throughtheoutlet 6 lb; Thisqoperation is performed very rapidly, so as toprevent any substantial, loss of compressed air.,.-Whi1e the -air isflowing through the-pipe 44, it is also flowing through the pipe 40 intothe casing and out of casing 5| through the pipe 51; Of course, when thevalve-spindles 31 and 38 are manually depressed, their respective valves31a' and 38a abut their respective seats in the valvecasings 34 and 36,in order to prevent the air from exhausting through the outlets 34a and36a.

The constriction which is provided by the coupling 68 retards the flowof airinto the pipe 59. Hence the first pilot piston 46 is operated soas to turn lever 48 to its broken-line position, thus permitting spring63 to move the valve 62 against its seat, before there is anysubstantial flow'of compressed air into the cylinder 29, and before anysubstantial movement of the motorpiston 28.

Some of the compressed air flows through the pipe 68 into the casing H,this flow of the air being retarded by the coupling 18. The secondpilot-piston 12 is therefore operated almost simultaneous'ly with orshortly after the first pilotpiston 46, and the spindles of bothpilot-pistons I2 and 46 therefore maintain the lever 48 in its brokenline position, thus moving valve 66 away from its seat. The compressedair can therefore flow from branch pipe 320 into the pipe 59, to theport 59a of the cylinder 29. The piston 28 is thus operated at regulatedspeed, so as to close the press. The operator must maintain the buttons43 and 43a. in their depressed and operative positions until the piston28 has passed beyond and cleared'the port 56a of the pipe 56, as shownin broken lines in Fig. 4.

If the operator releases one of the control'buttons 43 and 43a beforethe piston has reached said broken-line position, the valves of thecasings 34 and 36, or one of said valves, are moved back to the normalposition shown in Fig. 4. The air will therefore exhaust out of thevalve-casing 34or 36, whose control button has been released. Thisexhaust is very rapid throughpipe 44 and the compression spring 41 willtherefore rapidly move the piston 46 back to its normal position, andthe spring 58 will rapidly move the lever 48 back to its normalposition, thus moving the valve 62 away from its seat and permitting theair to exhaust out of the casing 60a. The air can also exhaust out ofthe casing H through the pipes 69, 68, 5'1, the valve-casing 5i and thepipe 40 and through one of the valve-casings 34 and 36, if one or bothbuttons 43 and 43a is released.

The tension springs 22, 3| and3la, will then operate to open the press.

: As soon as the piston 28 has moved to the broken-line position shownin Fig. 4, the compressed air flows through the pipe 56 to thevalvecasing 5!, thus actuating'the piston 54 and moving the valve 52against its seat. The supply of compressed air to the cylinder 29through the pipe 40 is then cut off but the air pressure is continuedthrough the pipe 32a, the valve-casing 65and the pipe 59. The pipes and32 are respectively inlet pipes which supply fluid under pressure tothecylinder 29atthe inlet of said cylinder 29, through respectiveintermediateconnecting means. The compressed air or other fluid which isthus supplied may be designated as motive fluid, as it operates thepiston 28. The pressis thereupon either maintained in the closedposition or it is moved slowly to final closing position. Forexample,the pistons 12,54'and the like can be replaced by diaphragms.Whenever I refer to means in the claims, said designation includes onedevice or a plurality of devices. The speed of movement of the piston 28isregulated by the needle valve N, which regulates the now of air out ofthe front end of the cylinder 29.

, Thereforeall by-pass valves and mechanical means for operating thesame are wholly eliminated, because the air is supplied to the motorcylinder 29 immediately through two branch lines when the controlbuttons are actuated, and

air pressure is maintained through one of said .b-ranch lines, even whenthe control buttons are released, if the distance of head 3 from buck 2is less than a predetermined distance. When the control buttons 43 and43a are released, after the piston 28 has reached its broken-lineposition, the air can exhaust out of the casing 46, but itcannot exhaustout of the casing H as long as valve 71 abuts its seat, so that thepiston 12 maintainsthe lever 48 in its broken-line position so that thevalve 62 is held in its closed position by 'spring 63.

After the completion of the desired pressing period, the operatoractuates the lever 19 so asito depress the valve 11. The compressed airwhich is located in the casing 1| above the piston 12 can then exhaustthrough the outlet 16 of the casing 15. Both branch lines are thereuponexhausted, so that the opening spring or springs 22 and 3| and 3la canthen open the press.

The system shown in Fig. 5 is the same in principle as that shown inFig. 4. Similar parts havethere'fore been designated by the samereference numerals in Figs. 4 and 5. For example, Fig. 5 shows two pairsof control buttons43 and 43a, one pair for each machine.

The exhaust lever 8| of Fig. 5, which has the same function as exhaustlever 19 of Fig. 4, controls the exhaust of machine No. 2. The exhaustlever82 of Fig. 5 controls the exhaust of machine No. 1. The exhaustlever 83 also controls the exhaust of machine No. 2. The casing which isassociated with exhaust lever 83 is connected to pipe 68, by means of anintermediate pipe 85, so that the casin H of machine No. 1 is connectedby means of said pipe 85 to the casing which is associated with exhaustlever 83. In the same manner the casing which is associated with saidlever 8| is connected by means of an intermediate pipe 86 to the casingH of machine No. 2.

The two machines shown in Fig. 5 have respective tables, each tablebeing provided with a pair of control buttons 43 and 430. However thetablefor each machine also has a pair of manually operable release orexhaust levers so that the operator can open either machine withoutmoving from the table of the particular machine at which he is thenstationed.

While the improved control and operating system has been shown asapplied to a garment press whichhas a stationary buck and a head whichis movable towards said buck and away spring 61 will bias said valve 66to a normally closed position, until the pilot device 46 is actuated.The invention is .not restricted to any specific means for manually orautomatically operating the various valves, asthe essential feature ofthe invention, in its broader aspect, com-, prises the controloperations described herein.

For convenience, certain of the parts have been designated by referencenumerals in these claims, but such claims are not restricted to thespecific parts or means which.

designated Likewise the inlet-and-exhaus't devices in casings 34 and 36may have exhaust valves which are not connected to the respective inletvalves 31b and 38b. The invention. also includes numerous valuablesub-combinations which can be used independently'of the complete deviceillustrated herein. a 1

" Ihave described preferred embodiments of-the invention, but numerouschanges and omissionscan be made without departing from its spirit.

I claim: 1. A press which has a buck and a head which is movable towardssaid buck and away from to the first pilot device 54 when the head is ata predetermined distance from the buck so as to close the first branchline from the motor, the second branch line being connected to the motorthrough a second control valve 66 which is biased to a normally closedposition, said second control valve 66 being located in a casing 65,said casing 65 being connected above the valve 66 to the first branchline after the first valve 52,- a second pilot device 46 connected tothe first branch line in advance of first control valve 52 and aftersaid inlet-and-exhaust devices, said second pilot device 46 beingoperable by the motive fluid in the first branch line, said second pilotdevice 46 being associated with operating means adapted to openthesecond control valve 66 when said second pilot device 46 is operatedby the motive fluid in the first branch line, a first exhaust valve 52conactuated by said second pilot device 46, a third pilot device 12connected to the first branch line at a point between the first controlvalve 521 and the first exhaust valve 62, said third pilot device 12being located and operative to actuate said operating means in the samedirection as the second pilot device 46 so as to hold the second controlvalve 66 open and to permit the closing of the first exhaust valve 62when said third pilot device 12 is actuated, a manually operably exhaustvalve 62 connected to the casing of the third pilot device I2. 2. Adevice according to claim 1 having means adapted to diminish the rate offlow, of the motive fluid between the first control valve 2' and thefirst exhaust valve 62 and also having second means adapted to diminishsaid rate of flow between the motor and the second control valve 66 andalso havingthird means adapted to diminish said rate of flow from thecasing of first control valve 52 to the casing ofthird pilot device 12,in comparisonwith the-rate: of of said fluid to the-casingof secondpilot dev ce 46. 3. In a-press, the'combination of a movable ave beenthus presspart, .a fluid-operated motor connected to. said movablepress-part, said motor operatingsaid press-part whenfluid under pressureis supplied to said motor, a first branch-line and a; secondbranch-line, each branch-line having an inlet end which is connected toa source of fluid under pressure, each branch-line having an out v letend which is connected to said motor to supply fluid under pressure tosaid motor when the re-:; spective branch-line is open, each branch-linehaving a valve, thevvalve of the first branch-line being biased tonormal open position, the valve of the second branch-line beingbiased tonormal closed position; pilot mechanism, said pilot, mechanism having afirst means operative to open the valve of the second branch-line, anda'sec- 0nd means operative toclose the valve of the first branch-line,said first branch-line having'apair of manually controlled valves whichare arranged in series, means interconnecting the first. means of thepilot mechanism with the pair of valves to render the first meansoperative only upon the actuation of the pair of valves to work ingposition, means responsive to a predetermined movement of saidpress-part to render the second.

means of the pilot mechanism operative, and;

means for maintaining the valve of the second branch line open after thepredetermined movement 4. In a press, the combination of a movablepress-part and a fluid-operated motor connected to and adapted toactuate said movable presspart, a first inlet branch-line and a secondinlet branch-line which are respectively connected to a source of fluidunder pressure and which are respectively connected to said motorthroughrethe predetermined movement.

spective valves to the inlet of said motor in order.

to supply motive fluid thereto, pilot mechanism, said pilot mechanismhavinga first means operative to open the valve of the secondbranch-line,

and a second means operative to close the valve of the firstbranch-line, said first branch-linehaving a pair of manually controlledvalves, means interconnecting'the first means of the pilot mechanismwith the pair of valves to render the first means operative only uponthe actuation of the pair of valves to working position, meansresponsive to a predetermined movement of said: press-part to render thesecond means of the pilot mechanism operative, and means for maintainingthe valve of the second branch line openafter 5. A combination accordingto claim 4 in which the'second branch-line has a manually operable 1exhaust valve and the first branch-line has a, second exhaust andnormally open exhaust valve,

and automatic pilot means operable to close the second exhaust valvesubstantially when fluid admitted to the motor.

6. A'pressing machine comprising a movable press-part, a cylinder havinga piston which isconnected to said press-part and which is adapted toactuate sa'id press-part, said cylinder having open the secondcontrol-valve and to maintain said second control-valve open as long assaid first pilot-means is connected to a source of fluid under pressure,the first pilot-means being connected to the first branch-line in orderto receive motive fluid therefrom, second fluidoperated pilot-meansadapted to close the first control-valve and to maintain said secondcontrol-valve closed as long as said second pilotmeans receives fluidunder pressure, the second pilot-means being connected to a port of said10 cylinder, said port being located rearwardly of the cylinder-inlet sothat fluid under pressure is admitted from the cylinder to the secondpilotmeans only after the piston has cleared said port in the operatingstroke of said piston away from said cylinder-inlet, and manuallycontrolled means adapted to exhaust said cylinder and saidpilot-devices.

WALTER A. HOCH.

